英语逾甲子情缘
Over Sixty Years’ Love of Knowledge about the English Language

🌹The Ming Tombs (including Dingling,
Changling & Zhaoling)
明十三陵 （包括定陵、长陵和昭陵）
Part Four 第四部分

We are now riding on the road leading to the tombs. The road was opened up in 1979 with the increase in the number of Chinese and overseas visitors. Along the road, visitors will find the Memorial Arch, the Big Red Gate, the Tablet House, the stone animals and statues, the Lattice Gate (or the Dragon and Phoenix Gate is pierced with three archways) and the Ming Tombs Reservoir. We'll also see a lot of fruit trees planted after the founding of the People's Republic.
This road was known as shendao, meaning "the Way of the Spirit or the Sacred Way." The body of the dead was carried over the route at funeral ceremony. It is 7 kilometres long, from the Memorial Arch to the gate of the main tomb (Changling Tomb for Emperor Yongle).
The Memorial Arch 石碑坊, built of white marble, was erected in 1540. It is 14 metres high and 28.86 metres wide, and has 5 arches supported by 6 pillars with beautiful bas-relief carvings of qilin (Chinese unicorns), lions, dragons, other strange animals and lotus flowers, all fighting or wriggling in heaven or in the sea. Double lintels link the six pillars. The roofing is made of round marble tiles, with upturned corners. Stone archways are usually in front of tombs and temples, giving a feeling of solemnity and respect. This biggest stone archway in China stands on the way to the Ming Tombs. "The Way of the Spirit" used to pass beneath the Memorial Arch.
The Great Red Gate was built in 1426. It used to have three huge wooden doors. The deceased emperor occupied the central opening alone, and living ministers and imperial family members had to use one of the side openings when they came to pay homage to the deceased emperors.
About 457 metres from the Great Red Gate 大红门stands the Tablet House碑楼 built in 1435. A marble column, known as huabiao (ornamental columns erected in front of palaces, tombs, etc.), stands at each corner of the Tablet House. A huge tablet, 6.5 metres high, stands in the middle of the house on the back of a tortoise. The front side bears an inscription by Ming emperor Yongle. On the reverse side is an inscription carved during Qing emperor Qianlong's reign. It described the reconstruction of the Ming Tombs in 1785 and commented on the rules and styles of the Ming tombs.
Now we come to the famous avenue of stone animals and statues, named ‘spirit way.’ It totals 800 metres in distance. Stone animals and statues are found at the entrance to imperial tombs from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) onwards, but none of the group is as famous as that of the Ming Tombs.
The avenue with 36 stone animals and statues starts with two columns, called wangzhu (awaiting pillars) in Chinese, one on each side. They are hexagonal, carved with a cloud design, and the top is shaped like a round cylinder. The animals are lions 狮子 (symbol of power威武的象征), Xiezhi獬豸 (symbol of justice公正的象征) was a mythical beast of the feline family, said to be able to distinguish right and wrong. Camel骆驼 (symbol of transportation象征运输), elephant大象 (symbolizing auspices and peace吉祥和太平的象征), Qilin麒麟 (kylin; Chinese unicorn; standing for auspices and peace and warding off evil spirits吉祥和太平，能躯邪) was a sort of imaginary animal with a scaly body, a cow's tail, deer's hooves and a horn on its head, and fine horse (steed) 骏马 stands for expedition象征征战. There are 24 stone creatures in all. These beasts are followed in turn by a group of 12 stone human statues (civil officers 武臣representing imperial body guard generals象征侍卫将军, civil officials文臣signifying emperor’s close ministers象征近身文臣, and ministers of merit勋臣 emblematizing meritorious civil and military officials象征有功勋的文武百官), which symbolize the funeral cortege of the deceased emperors. Each of the statues was sculptured out of a single rock.
The function of the “Sacred Way” of the Ming Tombs: It played the role of decoration and ornament, symbolizing the appearance and behavior of the emperor’s lifetime. It also showed that the deceased emperor in the underworld, there were also civil officials,military officers and various beasts to drive，dominating everything 明十三陵神道的作用：主要起装饰和点缀作用，以象征皇帝生前的仪威（指容貌和举止），表示皇帝驾崩后在阴间也拥有文武百官及各种走兽可供驱使，主宰一切。
With the ‘spirit way’ 神道 turning slightly, the statues 石像生appear: two military officers wearing sabers, two civilian officials and two ministers of merit, and six statues on each side and twelve in all. These animals and statues all date from the 15th century. It is interesting to compare them with those at the tomb of the first Ming emperor in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, which are scarcely any older and yet much less fine. They were all meant to serve the dead in the next world. They do give people a sense of solemnity on the way leading to the tombs.
At the end of the ‘spirit way’ is the Lattice Gate棂星门, also known as Dragon and Phoenix Gate龙凤门 (meaning Celestial Gate天门). It is pierced with three small parallel archways. On the upper part of the centre of the archways are decorated with flaming pearls, and so they are also called “Flaming Archways”火焰牌坊. North of the Dragon and Phoenix Gate lies a 7-arch marble bridge leads to the Gate of Changling (the tomb for the emperor Yongle, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty). On the east side of the bridge there are ruins of a 5-arch bridge and a 7-arch bridge built in the Ming Dynasty. The ruins of the bridges can still be seen. Beyond the bridge are the paths to the separate tombs, each ending with a Minglou 明楼 (Visible Tower), the tallest building in the area. Further on is the tumulus, and beneath it is the stone “underground palace” where the emperor’s coffin lies.
On your right is the Ming Tombs Reservoir, one of the 17 large and medium sized reservoirs built in Beijing in the last 50 years. The 627-metre-long and 29 metre-high-dam was built in less than five months in 1958. The late Chairman Mao, the late Premier Zhou Enlai and other leading members of the Chinese Government came to join in its construction. During construction, 400,000 volunteers including workers, farmers, business people, students, soldiers, government cadres, foreign diplomats and foreign friends were involved in the project. The reservoir’s total area is 300 hectares (750 acres). The project cost 16 million yuan (US$ 1.935 million). It provides water for irrigation in the Beijing area and works the turbines of a hydroelectric power station. It can generate 1.2 billion kilowatt each year. In the Beijing area, there are altogether 83 reservoirs with a total capacity of 9.27 billion cubic metres of water.
On your left at the foot of the hill stands the Underground Palace of Dingling (tomb of security) amidst pines and cypresses. Dingling is the tomb of Emperor Wanli, the 13th Ming emperor. He was born in 1563, and was chosen and named crown prince when he was six years old. In 1573 he ascended the throne at the age of 10 and died in 1620. Emperor Wanli occupied the throne for 48 years, the longest reigning monarch of the Ming Dynasty.
The entire layout of the mausoleum is split in two---a rectangular part at the front and circular part at the back, separated by a stone tower known as ming lou, or the Worldly Tower. The different shapes were meant to represent Earth and Heaven, believed by ancient Chinese to be a square and a circle respectively. The circle part, known as bao cheng, or the treasure city, has its heart a big earth dune that rises to more than 10 metres above the ground. Since the burial chamber was most likely to be deep in the ground and directly under the peak of this symbolic burial mound.